Cherry Blossom Lullaby
by Samkin-lone-Senshi
Summary: Sequal to "Foundling", Kenshin and Kaoru are married with Kenji and Rei as their children. Rei's special gift goes out of control and Kenshin discovers how hard it is to let go of his family.


Cherry Blossom Lullaby  
  
Part 1  
  
Himura Rei's Gift  
  
The lighting rippled through the sky and Kenshin heard the soft cry from the hall, he looked over and found the small brown haired Himura Rei clutching her blanket. "Rei-chan, time for bed," he whispered kindly to her, she reached her tiny hands up and clung to him crying. "You're scared of the thunder and lighting?"  
  
She nodded and hid her face in her father's shoulder. "Chichi make it stop!"  
  
"I can't make the Samurai in the sky stop fighting," he whispered and rocked her gently. "They will get tired soon, that they will."  
  
The four year old clung to him as he rocked her gently, he looked over at Kenji who was sleeping through the storm. "Look at your brother, he can sleep through it."  
  
"Can I sleep with you, Chichi?"  
  
"You're too big for that, aren't you a big girl now who has her own futon?" Kenshin asked looking down at her as he laid her down. "You know that nothing will hurt you, right?"  
  
She nodded and closed her eyes still holding tightly to his gi. He smiled down at her and then picked her up carrying her off into his room. He lay back down and they clung to each other in their sleep.  
  
Rei's hands were kept covered with loose gloves, Kenshin had experienced the child's odd powers when she told him about the bodies buried under the cherry trees near the house. He feared that people would find out about her powers and would come to take her away from him.  
  
Clearly the years had shown in Kenshin, his breathing became slow and rather tired. He gasped a lot when he breathed and he had a lot of hard times trying to keep up with two toddlers.  
  
Being four Rei was quick on her feet and often a handful for her father, then there was Kenji who was two. The two of them were so much like a tag team of terror for the family.  
  
"Haha!" Rei ran into the house and hid behind her. "Kenji is after me."  
  
The two year old giggled and then tagged her. "IT!"  
  
The game of tag went on until Kaoru announced nap time. Kenshin smiled picking up Rei and then Kenji carrying them to into the house for their naps. "I'm too big," Rei struggled, but then looked up at her father. "I'm not sleepy."  
  
"You're grumpy, that you are, so you need to take a nap."  
  
Kenshin would sleep with them, his hands resting on his sakabato, he sat against the wall and would look up at Kenji and Rei who were sleeping on the floor.  
  
The next morning had been rather special, Kenshin woke up early and found Rei standing by the door of the dojo looking out of it. She seemed to have an intense look on her face, he looked at her then outside at a boy who looked like Gohei. "I told you Negumo to not come here to pick on my daughter, now go!"  
  
The boy let out a startled yelp and was running off. Kenshin gave a sigh and looked down at his daughter who was trembling. "What is wrong? What could trouble my little princess so?"  
  
"What's the Hitokiri Battosai, chichi?" the voice was small and frightened. "Negumo-chan said that if I am not a good girl that he will come and get me."  
  
Kenshin smiled at her and knelt down looking into her eyes. "He was real, but now he is not, he found happiness with those he loved and he vowed never to hurt anyone. And I'm sure that he would never want to hurt such a good little girl like you, that he would not," his voice was pained and he took her into the house for breakfast.  
  
He watched his daughter that day at the Cherry Blossom Festival, she played with the other children. He blinked as she walked up to a cherry tree and looked up at it in wonder. "Chichi, why is there a dead person buried here?"  
  
He put his hand on her shoulder and smiled. "Before you were born, there was a great emperor and he got tired of the cherry blossoms always being white. He decreed when great Samurai died that a cherry tree would be planted where they have fallen and were buried. That is why to this day that all cherry blossoms are pink and white," he whispered to her.  
  
"Oh," her voice was soft and then she ran off to be with the other children. He watched her and felt upset about what happened that early morning.  
  
Hiruma Gohei had told his son a horrible truth and he felt worried that the happiness that his daughter knew would be of fear of the man she loved the most. Kenshin felt upset enough that most of the day he checked and rechecked if the gloves were still on Rei's little hands.  
  
That night Kaoru noticed her husband's nervous behavior and approached him about it. "Kenshin, what is wrong? You have been worried sick about Rei all day, tell me what is troubling you?"  
  
"Rei-chan heard something from Gohei's son about me. My worst fear is that my children will fear me. I don't want them to ever feel that way," his voice trembled thinking about what little Rei went through that morning. "She is our baby and I don't want her to ever know about my past, it could very well have her hate me."  
  
"You fear too much, Rei-chan loves you more than anything in the world. You were the man who picked her up and claimed her as your own."  
  
Kenshin heard the scream that night, he ran into the bedroom and picked up Rei who was crying. He rocked her gently, and looked into her eyes. "It is alright, it was only a bad dream, that it is was. Your Chichi is here to make it better for you, that he is."  
  
"Chichi, don't let him get me, please."  
  
He blinked down at her and nodded wishing there was some other way.  
  
Three years had passed since that night and yet Kenshin felt the fear of the idea that his children would know anything from his past. He leaned on Kaoru as they walked, his muscles had weakened and he was forbidden to even be near the Sakabato. Kaoru had packed up the sword and put it in the closet along with some other mementos of the past.  
  
Kenji was rather adventurous and had the scratches to prove it all over his knees. Being now five, he had successfully almost gave Kenshin a heart attack when he climbed a tree and had to have Sanosuke get him down. He had been told not to climb up so high that he didn't know how to get down. His father was furious and had spanked Kenji for the first time in his life. "I told you not to do that, why didn't you listen to me?" Kenshin had told his son as he brought him home.  
  
Rei watched from her lessons with Kaoru on reading and proper behavior befitting a little girl of her age. She listened to her father telling the story to her mother and saw the look on her mother's face. Kenji was not allowed to go outside again the rest of the afternoon and was forced to help the students in the dojo clean.  
  
Kenshin sat back and started to laugh about the incident. "Kaoru-koishii, I wonder where our little Kenji gets all this energy? I can't keep up with him, that I can't."  
  
"Hai, I wonder that too, I was never that rebellious as a child, he always seems to try and push you to see where his boundaries are," Kaoru put the tea down in front of him and smiled. "Megumi brought over some new medication for you."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
Rei knew she was different, she could tell, after seven years with her family, she felt like an outsider. Her father was to her the most important person in the world, she would feel the great sadness of in her father.  
  
"Chichi, are you alright, you look upset?"  
  
"Rei-chan, do you know why I never let our hands meet," he looked at her when she and him were alone.  
  
"No, you always had me wear the gloves," she looked down at her gloved hands.  
  
"When you were little you would touch things and tell me about the dead people buried there. Then you would touch people's hands and you would see their past. I was worried about it, your gift is very different and there are people out there that would hurt you, that they would. I would never want you to be hurt because of that. I am scared that my past would hurt you too."  
  
His eyes were on hers and smiled. "I don't have much time left, Rei-chan," he looked away from her. "Father gave me so little time to be with you and Kenji."  
  
"What are you talking about? You will always be here, Chichi to protect Haha and Kenji." Her voice was trembling, she saw him remove a glove from her left hand.  
  
"I have something you need to know. I have kept it from you since you were a baby, I never wanted you to know who I was. You know what your mother told you about the Bakumatsu, but that was only half truths," he put his hand in hers and waited for her reactions.  
  
Rei's eyes widened when she saw her father's past, she saw the blood everywhere. In the vision he stood in a blue gi and was holding a katana over the body of a fallen enemy. "MAKE IT STOP," she screamed and ran from him into the modren times.  
  
Kenshin watched her run from him, his eyes down, he found her in her room sobbing. He knelt down next to her and she held him crying into her father's shoulder. "You were the Hitokiri weren't you Chichi?"  
  
"Hai, I was, but I will never be that again. I have your mother and you to keep me from it, from the moment I found you at the door step of the dojo, you are my daughter," he kissed her forehead. "I don't want you to ever fear me again, it pained me when you woke from that story that Negumo told you about me. I would never hurt anyone ever again, that I would not."  
  
"Chichi, I'm sorry," she whimpered into him. "I'm always going to be scared of the hitokiri."  
  
"I know, but he doesn't exist anymore." 


End file.
